Talking with Students

How to Talk with Students about Participating in NSSE

This document, along with the instructions for use and the Faculty templates, form a unit.

Of the more than 1,400 North American universities and colleges that have participated in NSSE, the ones that have achieved high participation rates often cite the involvement of faculty and staff as key features of their promotional efforts. Having a faculty or staff member outline the value of NSSE for York could help students see that the survey is worth completing.

That is why we need faculty members and administrators at York to encourage undergraduate students in the first year and the final year of all four-year undergraduate programs, other than law and education, to take the survey.

 

Key Messages to Share with Students

General Information

  • NSSE (pronounced Nessie) = National Survey of Student Engagement
  •  It is one of the most important surveys York participates in.
  • NSSE is an opportunity for our undergraduate students to tell York about the degree to which they participate in educationally rewarding experiences. The results will identify areas where York is doing well and where the undergraduate educational experience could be improved.
  • All Ontario universities participate on a three-year cycle.
  • York’s next survey period: February 11 to March 31, 2014.
  • Eligible participants: All students in the first and final years of four-year undergraduate degree programs, except law and education.
    • Eligible students will receive an e-mail from President Shoukri on February 11, with a link to the survey.
  • Length of time to complete the survey: 20-30 minutes

 

Why Participation in the Survey is Important

  • York is committed to using the NSSE results to help design the programs and activities that our students most need and want.
  • But in order to do that we need good data.
  • More respondents generally yield better quality data.
  • Our 2014 goal is 35 per cent overall participation, which is in line with the Ontario average.
  • In 2011, the last time the survey was conducted here, York’s overall participation rate was 17 per cent – lower than the Ontario average and our principle competitors.

 

What will we do with the results?

  • Conduct focus groups with students to get their insights into what kinds of initiatives would improve student engagement.
  • Form a committee to analyze the results and coordinate improvement efforts at York.

 

Past survey results led to changes in student programs and services offered

  • Even though we didn’t get as many respondents to the survey as we would have liked in 2011, we still listened to what students had to say.
  • As a result, we implemented improvements to our student services like:
    • more relaxation spaces on campus for commuter and residence students;
    • York’s RED Zone; and
    • enhanced OSAP administrative processes.
  • More feedback on the 2014 survey could help us make even more changes at York.

 

Complete the Survey and Get a FREE Beverage

  • Once they’ve finished the survey, students will receive a free gift – a grande beverage from Starbucks on the Keele campus OR a medium beverage from Tim Hortons at Glendon OR one of 500 $5 York Lanes gift cards (while supplies last).
  • They will also be entered to win one of 25 prizes.

 

NSSE Champion Cup

  • The Faculty with the highest participation rate by the end of the survey period in March will be awarded the Cup by the President.

 

For more information, visit yorku.ca/nsse.

 

When and where to reach out to students

  • If speaking to students in person, please use the Key Messages in this document or the PowerPoint presentation from the Toolkit.
  • One of the best ways to promote participation in NSSE is to have faculty members encourage students to complete the survey at least once per month at the start or finish of classes, using the talking points provided in the Toolkit.
  • When speaking at a student function, faculty and staff are urged to mention NSSE and encourage the participation of students in the first and final years of four-year honours programs.
  • Outreach to the York Federation of Students and the Student Representative Roundtable will be handled centrally. We are looking to the Faculties and Colleges to connect with their student clubs, organizations and governments such as the college councils.
  • Some examples include student associations tied to programs of study; Faculty or program mentorship or peer groups; study groups.

 

How to reach out to colleagues

  • Do this as often as you see fit during the survey administration period.
  • Some examples include Faculty Council; program department meetings; lunch & learn sessions

 

Ideas for Promoting NSSE within Your Faculty, College, Program or Department

There is no one correct way to increase student participation. Each Faculty needs to assess its own student culture and determine appropriate methods to reach their students.

Please be mindful of volume. OIPA will be coordinating communications centrally.

 

Templates and Guidelines to Help You

  • We’ve prepared detailed information about how to promote participation in NSSE to students in your Faculty including templates for social media messages and a newsletter article.
  • These can be found in the Faculty Templates document in this Toolkit and available online at http://nsse.info.yorku.ca/nsse-toolkit/.

 

Faculty Newsletters

  • Faculties and Colleges are encouraged to include general information about the survey, and an appeal to participate, in their newsletters (print or electronic) to students in January, February and March.
  • Please limit such outreach to a maximum of three times in total (once per month).
  • The template of a newsletter article can be found the Faculty Templates document in this Toolkit and available online at http://nsse.info.yorku.ca/nsse-toolkit/.

 

Social Media

  • Repost Facebook messages or re-tweet centrally disseminated Twitter messages to share results and update students throughout the entire NSSE administration.
  • A full social media calendar, with associated messaging, can be found the Faculty Templates document in this Toolkit and available online at http://nsse.info.yorku.ca/nsse-toolkit/.

 

Other Ideas

  • Post flyers in your program or college offices or your college’s residences. Please use the Toolkit posters only.
  • Post notices on your Faculty, College, departmental or program website. We’ll provide templates.
  • Link to York’s NSSE website. We’ll provide button artwork.
  • Set up tables during Faculty-, College- and program-specific events with survey information.
  • Include announcements/articles about NSSE in your newsletters. We’ll provide templates.

 

Protocols (DOs and DON'Ts) for Promotion of NSSE to York Students

Here are the NSSE Institute’s guidelines for acceptable and unacceptable practices for promoting the survey to students.

 

DOs: Best Practices for Encouraging Student Participation in NSSE

General

  • ONLY promote NSSE generally to groups of students.
  • ALWAYS emphasize that participation is voluntary. Students' decisions not to participate must be respected.
  • ALWAYS inform students that survey responses will be kept confidential.
  • Participants in research studies should ALWAYS be informed of their rights relative to their participation and of any potential risks of involvement in the study. NSSE provides this information in its contacts with students.
  • More information about privacy and ethics can be found at http://nsse.info.yorku.ca/privacy-ethics-statement/.

 

What NOT to Do

  • Do NOT single out individual students: Information about NSSE must be distributed to the whole student body.
  • Do NOT have personal contact in print or otherwise with individual students about NSSE.
  • Do NOT email individual students directly about the survey.
  • Emails to students are being handled centrally. NSSE allows a maximum of five direct requests to participate in the survey. These will be an initial email invitation from President Shoukri and up to four reminders from Vice-Provost Morrison.
  • NEVER make students feel that they will be penalized for not participating. There will be NO revoking of rights or privileges for non-response (e.g., blocking course enrolment or housing registration). Please ensure that students know this.
  • Do NOT engage in coercive activities or exercise undue influence.
    • Coercive interactions are those that imply directly or indirectly that a potential participant might lose rights or privileges for not participating in the study.
    • Examples of explicit of coercion include requiring students to complete the survey in order to register for classes or graduate.
    • Examples of implicit coercion include such statements as “you must complete this survey” or “students with real York pride would complete this survey.”
  • Do NOT describe NSSE as an anonymous survey. The survey is confidential, not anonymous as identified student responses are provided to institutional personnel.
  • Survey participation is more likely when students are not suffering from survey fatigue. The Office of Institutional Planning & Analysis (OIPA) needs to administer another small survey around the same time as NSSE. Therefore, we would ask that Faculties, Colleges and Administrative units try to keep other surveys to students in the first or final year of a four-year honours program to a minimum (or avoid altogether) from February 11 to March 31, 2014

 

A Special Note about Incentives and Prizes.

  • After completion of the survey, students will receive a virtual coupon on their YU-Card for a grande beverage from Starbucks on the Keele campus OR a medium beverage from Tim Hortons on the Glendon campus OR one of 500 $5 York Lanes gift cards (while supplies last). They will also automatically be entered to win one of 25 prizes.
  • See http://nsse.info.yorku.ca/prizes-rewards/ for details about incentives and prizes.
  • Do NOT offer any other incentives or prizes to your students to encourage them to respond to the survey.
    • The incentives used to increase participation should NOT be the primary reason why students participate in the NSSE survey.
    • Promotion of incentives should NOT emphasize the prizes to a degree that overshadows participating in the survey.
  • It IS acceptable to offer snacks if you’re holding a general NSSE information session.

 

For more information visit yorku.ca/nsse

If you have any additional questions, suggestions or concerns, please contact one of the following NSSE steering committee members:

·   Richard Smith, richard.smith@yorku.ca

·   Clara Wong, cmwong@yorku.ca

·   Donna Cope, dcope@yorku.ca